Governing Documents

Constitution & Bylaws

Article I - Name The name of this corporation shall be the Texas Association of School Administrators. The Association shall be a membership corporation, and is an affiliate of the American Association of School Administrators.

Article II - Purpose Section 1. The purpose of this organization shall be to promote the progress of education in the State of Texas. In pursuit of this objective, the Association will:

(a) Establish and annually review a statement of the Association's Mission, Goals, and Objectives. (b) Cooperate with other organizations dedicated to such purpose. (c) Work for the improvement of instruction in the schools of the state. (d) Encourage the improvement of administrative practices in the schools of the state. (e) Provide means by which administrators may seek self-improvement by participating in the statewide study of problems in school administration. (f) Promote the involvement of all segments of the membership in the Association's programs and activities.

Section 2. The Association will work in close cooperation with the Texas Association of School Boards and American Association of School Administrators in all areas of common interest.

Section 2. A person shall be eligible to active membership who meets the requirements for the professional administrator's certificate as determined by the State Board of Education or who has professional training equivalent thereto or who serves in an administrative position in a public, county, or private school or association, college or university or who teaches persons preparing for education or educational administration in these institutions and who possesses a valid license for the position as required by law.

Section 3. Active members shall be entitled to full voting privileges and shall be eligible to hold office.

Section 4. The dues of the Association for active members shall be four tenths of one percent (.004) of each member's gross annual salary. The Executive Committee may establish a minimum annual membership fee for active members and may establish a different annual membership fee for members other than superintendents. The membership and fiscal year shall begin September 1 and end August 31.

Section 5. All persons who are interested in any phase of school administration and are not eligible for active membership may become associate members of this Association by paying an annual membership fee of $100, or such greater amount as may be established by the Executive Committee, and shall be entitled to all privileges of this Association except the right to vote and hold office.

Section 6. Upon recommendation of the Executive Committee, the privilege of honorary membership may be extended to an individual who has rendered outstanding service to education; such members to have all privileges of this Association except the right to vote and hold office.

Section 7. There shall be two types of life membership, (a) paid life membership, (b) honorary life membership.

(a) Paid Life Membership-All persons eligible for active membership shall be eligible for paid life membership upon the advance payment of a sum equivalent to ten (10) times the amount of the current annual dues as stipulated in Section 4. Said payment shall be made in not to exceed (3) annual installments.

A paid life member shall be entitled to all privileges of the active membership as long as the requirements set out in Section 2 are met.

(b) Honorary Life Membership-With the approval of the Executive Committee a member in good standing at the time of retirement who has ten (10) years of membership in TASA and who has completed twenty-five (25) years of active service in the teaching profession may, upon retirement from positions listed in Article III, Sec. 2, be given an honorary life membership.

Section 8. College professors who are employed full-time in a college or university department of educational administration shall be eligible for active membership in the Association upon payment of one-half of the minimum annual membership fee established by the Executive Committee. Such members shall be entitled to all privileges of this Association except the right to hold office.

All persons who are currently enrolled in a college or university department of educational administration and who are not employed in a full-time administrative position other than a campus-level administrative position are eligible for student membership upon recommendation by the department chair. Such student members shall be entitled to receive all mailings and publications of the Association, and such other services as may be authorized by the Executive Committee by paying the annual membership fee established by the Executive Committee, but shall not have the right to vote or hold office.

Section 9. All persons who are interested in the improvement of administrative practices in the schools of the state may become a sustaining member of this association but shall not have the right to vote or hold office. The dues of the Association for Sustaining Membership shall be $100 annually.

Section 10. The date and place of the annual meeting and any additional meetings shall be determined by the Board of Directors, which shall be the Executive Committee of the Association, and is hereinafter called the "Executive Committee."

All officers except the executive director shall serve for a term of one year and may not succeed themselves. The term shall begin June 1 and end May 31.

Section 2. Nomination and election of President-elect.

(a) Each nomination for office of president-elect shall be supported by no fewer than fifty-five signatures of members of the Texas Association of School Administrators, provided that no fewer than five signatures of said members shall come from each of the majority of the Education Service Center Regions. Petitions shall be in the hands of the Executive Director not later than March 1.

(b) Announcements of nomination for the office of president-elect of the Texas Association of School Administrators shall be published in the April issue of the Texas School Administrator and each member shall receive written notice of such nomination.

(c) Each member shall receive an official ballot, no later than April 22. The member shall mark and return the ballot to the Executive Director postmarked not later than May 2.

(d) An election committee, appointed by the president, shall canvass the votes and tabulate the results. The nominee receiving the greatest number of votes shall be declared elected provided this total be not less than 35 percent of votes cast, or in a tie vote, the Executive Committee will elect a president-elect from the certified nominees.

(e) If only one nomination for the office of president-elect is received in accordance with the provisions of this section an official ballot is not required to be mailed to each member and the nominee for president-elect shall be duly elected."

(f) Provided further that if no nominations for President-elect are received by the Executive Director as provided in subsection (a), a President-elect shall be chosen by vote of the qualified electors present at the business meeting of the Association during the annual convention.

Nominations for president-elect will be from the floor and may be made by any administrator whose dues are paid for the current year.

Each member presenting a nomination must state that the nominee is a paid-up member of the Association for the current year and that permission has been secured from the proposed nominee to offer the nominee's name as candidate for President-elect.

If there are three or more candidates and one does not receive a majority of the votes cast, a second ballot shall be cast listing the names of the two candidates with the greatest number of first ballot votes.

Section 3. The election of vice-president.

The vice-president shall be elected by the Executive Committee each year at a meeting prior to May 31.

Section 4. The Executive Director shall be elected by the Executive Committee for a period of one, two, or three years at the discretion of the Committee. The contract term shall coincide with the fiscal year of the Association.

Section 5. Vacancies.

(a) In the event of a vacancy in the office of president, the vice-president will complete the unexpired term.

(b) In the event of a vacancy in the office of both president and vice-president, the Executive Committee shall fill the office of president for the unexpired term.

(c) In the event of a vacancy in the office of president-elect, a special election will be held to fill the vacancy, using the same procedure as in the original election for said office.

Section 6. The Executive Committee.

(a) The Executive Committee shall consist of the president, vice-president, president-elect, immediate past president, one member from each of the twenty education service center regions, the chairperson of the legislative committee, and four at-large members. Each president shall appoint, subject to approval by the Executive Committee, two active members from underrepresented segments of the membership who shall serve in these at-large positions on the Executive Committee for a two-year term, beginning simultaneously with the president's term.

(b) Members of the Executive Committee elected from the Education Service Center Regions shall be elected prior to April 1 in accordance with procedures established by the Executive Committee. At the same time, the administrators shall elect a first alternate and a second alternate. Should the elected member of the Executive Committee move from the region or otherwise become ineligible to serve, this place would be taken by the first alternate. Should the first alternate not be able to fill the place, the second alternate would become a member of the Executive Committee. In the event a vacancy occurs in a region that has no duly elected alternate, such vacancy shall be filled by the Texas Association of School Administrators Executive Committee.

(c) Members of the Executive Committee elected from the Education Service Center Regions shall serve two-year terms with the even-numbered regions electing in even years and odd-numbered regions electing in odd years. A member of the Executive Committee shall not be eligible to serve more than two consecutive terms. Members so elected shall take office on June 1 following their elections. An at-large member of the Executive Committee appointed by the president shall not be eligible to serve consecutive at-large terms.

(d) The restriction imposed in paragraph (c) is not intended to apply to the president-elect.

Section 7. By action of the executive committee, a vacancy may be declared in the office of president, president-elect, or vice president if, at any time during the term, the officer serving in such capacity is not employed as a superintendent of schools or in another administrative capacity by a school district, other local or regional public education institution, college or university in the State of Texas, and is employed by a private business or corporation. A vacancy declared in accordance with this section shall be filled in the same manner that other vacancies in these positions are filled.

Article V - Duties of Officers Section 1. It shall be the duty of the president to preside at all meetings of the Association or of the Executive Committee. The president shall, with consultation of the Executive Committee, prepare programs for the meetings of the Association. The president shall appoint all committees not otherwise provided for and shall fill vacancies on continuing committees. The president shall chair the Executive Committee and shall call meetings of this committee whenever deemed necessary or whenever petitioned to do so by a majority of the members of the committee. The president shall perform all other duties regularly pertaining to such office and shall appoint an auditing committee each year which shall report at the annual meeting.

Section 2. The president-elect shall serve as an assistant to the president, shall preside and perform all duties of the president in case of the president's absence, and shall perform any duties assigned by the president.

Section 3. The vice-president shall preside and perform all duties of the president-elect in case of the president-elect's absence, and shall perform any duties assigned by the president.

Section 4. The executive director shall be responsible for a complete and accurate record of the proceedings for all meetings of the Association and all meetings of the Executive Committee. The executive director shall receive all monies due to the Association, make an annual financial report to the Association at its annual meetings, keep all funds of the Association deposited in a designated bank, pay out funds of the Association upon approval of the Executive Committee or president and perform such other duties as the Executive Committee may assign. The executive director shall be covered by such bond as may be required by the Executive Committee. At the expiration of the executive director's term of office, all funds, books, and properties of the Association shall be turned over to the executive director's successor in office.

Section 5. The Executive Committee shall authorize and/or approve the disbursements of funds of the Association. This committee shall consult with the president in arranging the program. It shall determine the date and place of all meetings of the Association. It shall authorize the appointment of special committees and shall determine the funds necessary to achieve the purposes so designated.

Article VI - Committees Section 1. The president shall appoint any committees necessary to carry on the work of the organization.

Section 2. The president shall, with the approval of the Executive Committee, appoint:

(a) A committee of seven active Association members who shall be representatives of Colleges of Education from institutions of higher learning offering approved programs in superintendent preparation. The function of this committee shall be to develop recommendations to be submitted to the Executive Committee regarding areas of study, projects, programs, etc., that should be considered by the Association.

The membership of the committee shall include three officers of the Texas Professors of Educational Administration (TPEA), and four other college professors.

(b) A President's Cabinet made up of the president-elect, the vice-president, and the last three immediate past presidents of the association.

Article VII - Departments of TASA Section 1. The Executive Committee may create departments to serve the special interest of any group of its members upon a petition signed by twenty-five or more of such interested members who have pledged themselves to be active participants of the department.

No department may be created that duplicates an existing independent educational professional organization.

Section 2. A person, to be a member of a Department of TASA, must be a member of TASA, if eligible for active membership. If the officers of the department are not eligible for active membership, then the officers of the department must be associate members of TASA.

Section 3. The program of a Department of TASA must be in keeping with the purpose set forth in Article II.

Section 4. A department of TASA may have a constitution and organization pattern under which it operates. The constitution and by-laws shall be approved by the TASA Executive Committee.

Section 5. A department of TASA may have a dues structure for the department which shall be approved by the TASA Executive Committee.

Section 6. An Advisory Committee of five members shall be appointed by the president of each department to meet with the TASA Executive Committee at least once each year to suggest areas of study, projects, programs, etc., that should be considered by the Association.

Article VIII - Rules of procedure In all meetings of the Association or Executive Committee, Robert's Rules of Order (Revised) shall govern parliamentary procedure.

Article IX - Amendments This constitution may be amended by a two-thirds vote of the active members voting either by mail ballot or at any regular or called meeting of the membership, provided that notice of the amendment shall be given the members of the Association at least twenty-four hours before the vote is taken.